Rick Cohen lives in Keene and is one of the richest people in the world. In 2013, he had a “net worth” of more than $11 billion, according to an article published that year in Bloomberg News. Massachusetts is home to 11,000 or so people who make more than $1 million a year. Vermont has about 500 people like that. By taxing these people, the government could build homes for all the homeless people in the Valley.

Despite heavy rain, about 60 people showed up for a rally in Brattleboro on July 22. In a press release, the organizers of the rally said, “We in the homeless community feel that the police enforce and threaten to enforce the trespassing ordinances randomly and on public property, which for the homeless, is like being terrorized. You never know when they will show up.”

The event organizers can be reached via their web page:

www.facebook.com/events/332853054319875

This photo of the Brattleboro rally was taken by Brad Heck. To enlarge the photo, click on it, then scroll down and click “see full size image.” To zoom in more, click on the photo again.

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Holyoke, population 40,000 or so, has the highest percentage of Puerto Rican residents of any city in the 50 states. On July 22 in Puerto Rico, there was a general strike calling for the governor of Puerto Rico to resign. Hundreds of thousands of people participated. As of 8 a.m. on July 24, CNN was reporting that the governor of Puerto Rico “was expected” to resign.

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In Brattleboro on July 28 there will be a march to a nuclear waste dump a few miles away. The march is to create a world free of nuclear bombs and free of nuclear power plants. The march starts at 11 a.m. at the food co-op. Details are at:

www.graftonpeacepagoda.org/walk-for-a-nuclear-free-future

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A few miles from Keene is 1,400 of open space that the Nature Conservancy is working to protect. The USA is losing 6,000 acres of open space to sprawl every day. Mark Zankel runs the Conservancy's New Hampshire chapter. He told the Valley Post, “The property’s forests are unusually mature -- you see a lot of very large, old trees out there. This not typical of forests across the region. Also, there are nearly nine miles of headwater streams, and important water supply protection lands for the city of Keene.”

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Brattleboro has the nation's highest rate of pedestrian death by car. Now a group is working to change that by asking the town and state to install crosswalks on Putney Road, where the speed limit is 40 mph. The group has a web site at www.LocalMotion.org. The below photo of Putney Road was taken on July 22. To enlarge the photo, click on it, then scroll down and click “see full size image.” photo by Eesha Williams